FAVRETTO, Giacomo

(b. 1849 Venezia, d. 1887 Venezia)

Italian painter and draughtsman. He studied at the Accademia in Venice from 1864 to 1875. He lost an eye through a blood infection in 1877, but he recovered his general health and stayed on at the Accademia as an assistant until 1878. Favretto’s early interiors and portraits were influenced by the chiaroscuro realism of Michele Cammarano. In 1878 he became a national celebrity at the Brera exhibition with his charming and amusing genre scene The Mouse (Milan, Brera). The same year he showed The Prescription (private collection) and At the Tailor’s (private collection) at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, which he visited with Guglielmo Ciardi.

His interest in genre painting translated into anecdotal inventions in which the first glance is resolved into a brilliant atmospheric sketch. His style approaches that of the virtuoso genre painting of Fortuny and Meissonier. Favretto’s best works are his powerful, lucid interpretations of the brooding lagoon seascape.

Eighteenth-Century Venetian Lady

The artist has isolated one figure from his studies of eighteenth-century Venetian society and immortalised her in an idealised portrait. The vigorous brush strokes of the dress contrast with the neutral background, conferring an elusive grace of the woman, whose face is hidden in the bold lost-profile view.

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Promenade in the Piazzetta

Presented at Turin in 1884 with the title Venice, this painting is one of the conventional eighteenth-century scenes in fashion at the time and offers a serene vision of life in the city, enlivened by bright touches of colour.

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Self-Portrait

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The Guidini Family

The domestic setting, the fleeting glances, poses, and elegant dress are enlivened by effects of light and colour that the artist drew from his friend Ciardi. They combine to produce a serene, composed image of the family of engineer Guidini.

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